


The Last Goodbye

by overworkedunderwhelmed



Series: Healed With a Kiss [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Future, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23257222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overworkedunderwhelmed/pseuds/overworkedunderwhelmed
Summary: Adrien and Marinette may have defeated some major opponents in their ten years together, but some battles never really ended; they’ve just changed a little.Although the stakes have never been higher, they will handle this situation the same way they’ve done everything else—together.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Healed With a Kiss [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1638994
Comments: 48
Kudos: 290





	The Last Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as always to Kellarhi for beta reading!

Glasses slipping down his nose, Adrien pored over the thick stack of papers he was supposed to review. _Purr_ haps it wasn’t quite as exciting as his life had been in comparison to his earlier years, but now, things suited him just fine.

He smiled fondly at the tiny family portrait sitting on his computer desk. 

Running across the rooftops had been as freeing as anything he had ever asked for, but not even the nostalgic rush of wind through his hair could tempt him to trade the life he had now—the family he and Marinette had made now—for the world.

His sight wasn’t as good as it had been… and his ears definitely weren’t as sharp. Otherwise, he would have noticed Emma slipping into his little office before she came up to stand beside him, reaching just high enough to tug at his sleeve. 

Adrien smiled, slipping the glasses from his face and setting them on the desktop to gaze down into her green eyes. “What’s the matter, Emmibug?”

She pouted at the name. “Need Dad Bug…”

“Dad Bug, huh?” He chuckled, ruffling her hair fondly. “That sounds like a big mission.”

She nodded, seriousness certain in her wide eyes. “Mama is hurt.” Emma tilted her little blonde head in confusion. “Can you kiss the boo boos away?”

Quickly, he stood up, leaving paperwork without a second thought, and followed his daughter as she slid and skidded in stockinged feet down the long wood hallway. 

Along the way, Adrien peeked into an open door, assuring himself that Hugo was still sound asleep. Their son was asleep on his stomach, and had his knees tucked under himself. His little feet were curled beneath his bottom, and his thumb was firmly tucked into his mouth.

It was almost amusing to see the powerful Cat Kwami slumped over like a stuffed animal in the otherwise empty crib.

Plagg was clearly tuckered out, too. He had appointed himself the tiny force of chaos’ guardian, watching over him when Hugo was daredevil enough to keep trying to climb out. 

Which was far more often than _anyone_ had liked. 

Though he loudly protested the role anytime he could, Plagg gleefully enjoyed every mess Hugo made, and always snuck him bits of cheese when he thought his parents weren’t looking.

Adrien smiled fondly. Hugo was definitely one of Plagg’s Kittens...

Fleetingly it made him wonder if that’s how Plagg had looked at him when he had started working with him…

Adrien shook his head, satisfied that Hugo was at least quiet for now.

Since Tikki wasn’t in here too, then she almost certainly would have fled to the kitchen to sneak a cookie while the little ones weren’t looking.

* * *

By the time he had transformed and rushed quietly back down the hall, Emma had already toddled in, and tucked herself up against her mother’s legs on the couch. Very careful to avoid her mother’s growing belly, she threw her tiny arms about her mother’s shoulders as she climbed up. 

With relief, Mister Bug assured himself that Marinette wasn’t in physical pain, but she _was_ crying. Her eyes were red—a sure sign that she had been crying quietly for some time. He leaned down, cupping his wife’s face with a red spotted glove.

Even with the onslaught of hormones, Marinette wasn’t usually _this_ emotional. Frowning, his eyes scanned about the room, snapping onto the phone lying in Marinette’s listlessly open hand that was perched on the couch next to her.

On the screen was a very simple article. An obituary for one Marianne Lenoir, alongside a picture of an oddly familiar older woman. 

“Marianne was preceded in death by her husband, Wang Lenoir…”

Adrien felt the punch to his gut acutely. Master Fu and Marianne… they had married. And clearly, he had taken her last name, which wasn’t exactly something they’d expected.

He knew immediately what his wife’s thoughts would have been upon reading the short obituary. The relief from finally finding some thread of his existence followed by the information of his death had to have been overwhelming. It must have been devastating to have potentially found her mentor yet lose him all over again, knowing without question now that he’d never be able to answer all of the questions that had plagued her quieter, more anxious nights. The ones she’d thought he hadn’t noticed…

Mister Bug frowned, settling himself down on the couch on the other side of Emma. 

Marinette had to be feeling the weight of responsibility again. Worrying about being the Guardian. Worrying about having to give the box away to protect their kids…

What that might mean to her own memory.

“Hey,” he whispered. “We’re all in this together.” He reached out to his small daughter who scrambled into his hug. “All of us. We’re a team, right?”

When Emma’s eyes were wide and hopeful, Adrien made a big, dramatic show of kissing Marinette.

Marinette looked at him, her cornflower blue eyes growing more watery at those familiar words. “Always…”

Emma tugged at her mother’s shirt before she gave in to the rising tide of tears. “All better?”

Marinette smiled sweetly at her daughter, before leaning over just slightly to plant a kiss on her daughter’s forehead. “All better.”

“Yay!” Emma cheered, before merrily (noisily) capering down the hallway to the playroom.

Still transformed, Mister Bug tugged his weary wife into his arms. 

She stayed silent, relishing the warmth of his arms around her for a long while. “I just had so many questions for him. For both of them. And now… I’m just afraid I’ll forget, Adrien.”

“I know…” He turned her in his arms, leaning down _just so_ to press a fervent kiss to her lips. “But I’ll be here with you, no matter what, to help you remember.”

A rueful chuckle curved her lips, cutting through her sadness. “You _have_ managed to get better at that healing kiss, after all.”

Adrien grinned, self-satisfied. “After a decade of kissing you? I should hope so.” He pressed another sneaky kiss to her lips before pulling away. “I made sure to get in as much extra practice as I could to get it right.” 

When his wife still seemed a bit somber and subdued, he sighed and the smile waned. He’d half expected her to parry his smug antics by cutting the wind from his sails. 

He let his transformation fall off, releasing Tikki. “Tikki… could you keep an eye on Emma for a minute? I want to show Marinette something…”

Wide-eyed, Tikki nodded before darting down the hall. 

Marinette looked up at him in confusion but still allowed herself to be tugged into his office. He pulled out one heavy box and then another, setting both out on his desk—the paperwork from earlier now buried and completely forgotten underneath. He nodded for her to look inside.

There on the top was a copy of her ultrasound from just a few weeks back. The more tangible proof that little Louis was growing, big and strong, just as his brother and sister had. 

Reflexively, her hand drifted down to gently pat her growing belly, waiting for the echoing kick.

“Kitty…” she murmured in stunned awe. Her fingertips traced along pink post it note after pink post it, all with his familiar handwriting. “What is all this?”

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Ever since Master Fu left—ever since I realized what that would mean for you—I’ve spent years pulling together everything I could find. Everything I could download and store from the Ladyblog and the news footage. All of your awards for design since I’ve known you. Every picture and video we’ve taken of Emma and Hugo.”

Her fingers traced fondly over the pink half-circle diary box from her youth. “I thought this had gone missing years ago…”

He nuzzled his head against hers. “When we moved in here, I asked for Tikki’s help in putting everything we could together.”

“It might not be the same as having lived through it all—it may not be as good—but I won’t just let you forget, my love.” He pressed his lips to her hairline. “Not without a fight.”

Relief sucked the extra tension from her shoulders. “It isn’t just as good, Kitty. It’s better.”


End file.
